Over the past couple weeks Wheaton’s men and women’s swimming teams have been kept busy with a quad meet against Hope, Kalamazoo and Lake Forest, as well as an away meet against Carthage.
Last Saturday, the team swept the quad meet with the men racking up 546 points and the women’s team grabbing 552 points. Both teams won first.
For the men, the Thunder’s 400-yard relay team of junior Addison Coen, sophomore Daniel Deysher, junior Chris Dingfield and senior Jacob Clement placed first in their race with a time of 3:33:55. Junior Jack O’Connor then won the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 21.42 seconds. Afterwards, O’Connor also won the 100-yard freestyle race with a time of 47.36 seconds.
In the 200-yard freestyle, senior Jacob Clement finished in first with a time of 1:46.76. Junior Chris Dingfield won his 200-yard butterfly race in a time of 1:57:82. Senior Will McCauley also won his race, the 1,000-yard freestyle, in a time of 10:08.84.
On the women’s side, Wheaton’s 400-yard medley team also came in first with a time of 4:02.36. The medley team consisted of junior Meredith Clarkson, junior Kayla Roberson, senior Erin Bagley and freshman Maggie Franke.
In the individual race, Roberson won the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:26.11 and the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 2:10.28. Her 200-yard individual medley performance set a new meet record for the race.
Bagley also won the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 24.71 seconds and the 100-yard freestyle in 54.20 seconds. In the 200-yard butterfly, freshman Liz George placed first with a time of 2:13.71.
A week later, the Thunder traveled to Carthage College to take on the Red Men and the Lady Reds. Ultimately, the men lost a hard-fought battle to the Red Men by a score of 202-92.
Leading the way for the Thunder was Chris Dingfield with a victory in the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 1:55.71 and the 100-yard backstroke in 51.57 seconds. Sophomore Chris Szymczak won the 200-yard backstroke in a time of 1:54.33. Senior Will McCauley also won the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4:51.40. The relay team of seniors Clement, Szymczak, junior O’Connor and sophomore Daniel Deysher also won with a time of 3:11.16.
The women’s team swam extremely well and left Carthage with a 171-127 victory in hand. The 200-yard medley relay team of seniors Erin Bagley, Sarah Oldach, Jen Barich-Mooday and junior Kayla Roberson won with a time 1:50:57. The 400-yard quartet freestyle of Roberson, Barich-Mooday, Bagley and sophomore Brooke Barnes also won their race with a time of 3:36.94.
Freshman Ashley Bowen scorched the field in her 1,000-yard freestyle with a time of 11:21.67, over 13 seconds faster than the second place finisher. Roberson won the 200-yard and 500-yard freestyles and Bagley won the 100-yard backstroke and 200-yard backstroke races. Barnes, Clarkson and George also emerged victorious.
“I’ve been really proud of the way so many people have stepped up in their races these past two weeks,” Bagley explained after the Carthage meet. “As we start closing in on conference, we’re really focusing on perfecting our races and finishing well, and it’s really fun to see how excited everyone’s getting for the end of the season.”
Looking ahead, the Thunder will be taking on Olivet Nazarene this Friday in what will amount to this year’s seniors final home meet.